Instagram’s Threads: all the updates on the new Twitter competitor

Threads, Instagram’s X (formerly Twitter) competitor, is struggling to keep users around following its blockbuster launch, according to data from Insider Intelligence. The data, which was first reported on by CNBC, suggests that Threads will have far fewer monthly active users than Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok by the end of this year, but it may still have a chance to close the gap with X.

Insider Intelligence indicates that Threads will have 23.7 million active monthly users in the US by the end of 2023. That’s far fewer than what’s expected for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, which Insider Intelligence says could have 177.9 million, 135.2 million, and 102.3 million respective US active monthly users by the end of 2023.

Meta’s in-development edit button for Threads might let you edit posts within five minutes of publishing them, as reported by developer Alessandro Paluzzi on X (formerly Twitter). Instagram chief Adam Mosseri confirmed shortly after the app’s July launch that an edit button was on the list of potential features, and now that Paluzzi has discovered some details about it, perhaps the feature will be available more widely sometime soon.

An edit button is one of the things I think Threads is missing most, so I’m happy to see this shred of evidence that Meta might be closer to actually launching it. Meta didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment when I asked for details about potential timing, but I’m also optimistic that we’ll see the edit button sooner rather than later. In the couple months since the app’s launch, Meta has knocked out low-hanging fruit like a following feed, a web client, and the ability to search for posts.

I was thrilled when Threads finally launched on the web in August, but I quickly found that it was missing one important feature: you couldn’t quote posts, only repost them. (In X / Twitter lingo, that translates to quote tweet and retweet.) But that’s now changing, as Instagram Adam Mosseri said Thursday that quote posts on the web were rolled out this week.

To quote a post, just click the two arrows icon and then click the “quote” option.

Instagram’s Threads is rolling out the ability to search through posts more widely. In a post on the platform, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the feature is rolling out in “most” English- and Spanish-speaking countries with more to come soon.

In a statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Seine Kim confirmed that the feature is coming to both the US and the UK, and is also rolling out on the platform’s web app. Threads first started testing the feature in Australia and New Zealand in August, which lets you search through the platform’s posts based on a specific keyword. Previously, Threads only let you search through users.

Threads, the X (formerly Twitter) competitor created by Meta, is working on a way to search through posts using keywords, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced.

You can see how Threads’ new search feature might work in the image embedded below. While your search for a specific keyword will pull people up with that username (as it does now), pressing the “search” button will expand your search to all the posts containing that keyword. This makes it seem like a simplified version of Instagram’s search feature.

Meta is finally launching a much more capable web app for Threads, the company announced on Tuesday. You’ll be able to post, interact with other posts, and look at your feed, spokesperson Christine Pai tells The Verge. As of Thursday, the web version is live for everyone, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a post.

At first, Threads on the web was essentially a glorified way to look at somebody’s profile — you couldn’t even like or reshare a post even though the web app included the buttons to do so. (If you clicked them, Threads would show you a QR code to download the mobile app.) The new desktop web interface looks a lot like the one in the mobile app, though with some small differences; the navigation icons are on the top of the page, and to switch between the For You and Following feeds, you’ll click a button in the bottom-left corner.

Meta will launch the web version of Threads, its competitor to X (formerly known as Twitter) early this week, reports The Wall Street Journal. A web version has been frustratingly missing since the short-form posting service began.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is working on adding the feature along with better search (well, search at all, really — right now, you can only search for usernames on the platform) earlier this month, and that it would be ready in “the next few weeks.”

Threads is adding reposts (aka retweets) to its reverse-chronological “Following” feed, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced in a Threads post on Thursday. It’s a small but nice addition to the app that makes the Following feed a bit more useful, and while Mosseri said Meta added it “based on your feedback,” the Following feed does still have its flaws.

That’s not the only repost-related update from Meta. It’s also rolling out a reposts tab on your profile so that you and others can more easily find the threads that you’ve reposted. I don’t appear to have either update yet on iOS, but I do have the reposts tab when I view my profile on the web. (I think I need to repost more.)

Meta has rolled out the ability to verify a link to your Threads profile on social media platforms like Mastodon, according to a Threads post from Instagram head Adam Mosseri. To be clear, this isn’t a free way to get a blue checkmark next to your Threads name; you’ll probably need to pay Meta to get one of those. Instead, this new feature helps you prove on other platforms that a Threads profile that you link to is one that you own. But it also represents something bigger: an actual Threads feature from Meta that connects with decentralized social media.

I got this to work in just a few minutes on my Mastodon profile, meaning that a URL to my Threads account now has a green checkmark. I’ll explain how I got this set up a bit later in this story, but for now, here’s a screenshot of what it looks like:

Threads, Meta’s Twitter competitor, is getting some new features “this week,” according to a post from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The new features include the ability to share a Threads post to your Instagram DMs, a way to add custom alt text to photos and videos that you include in posts, and a new “mention button” that lets you “easily mention someone’s account in your Thread,” Zuckerberg says. (For some reason, this link only works for me on mobile.)

To share a post via Instagram DMs, tap the paper airplane-like icon on a post. To add alt text, start a post, attach photos or videos using the paperclip icon, and then tap the “Alt” button that appears on the image. I don’t appear to have the mention button — maybe I’m missing it! — but you can mention another user while drafting a post by entering the @ symbol and then typing somebody’s username or picking from one of the suggested options. And I should note that my iPhone had recently updated the Threads app, so if you’re not seeing the new features, make sure you’re on the latest version.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has high hopes for Threads, his competitor to the company formerly known as Twitter.

During Meta’s second quarter earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Zuckerberg was asked multiple times about Threads and his expectations for its long-term success. He said it’s a “weird anomaly in the tech industry that there hasn’t been an app like this for text-based convos that has reached 1 billion people,” echoing previous comments he has made both on Threads itself and during a recent interview with the podcaster Lex Fridman.

One of Instagram Threads’ most requested features is finally here: the Following tab that lets you see only the people you, er, follow. “Ask and you shall receive,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads quoting a user asking for the feature.

For those of us who have the Following feed, we can make it appear and disappear by tapping the home icon or the Threads logo at the top of the page. Annoyingly, if you reopen the app after it fully shuts down, it reverts to the “For You” feed, meaning you’ll have to know where to look to bring the Following feed up again — whether that’s a bug or not remains to be seen.

Threads is getting a “follows” tab, but it’s not the following-only feed that users have been asking for. As outlined in this post from Threads developer Cameron Roth, the new tab lives on the app’s activity page and only lets you see a list of users who recently followed you.

Threads previously listed your recent followers in its “all” tab on the activity page, so this isn’t that big of a change — it just makes your new followers easier to find. There are also two other filters for “quotes” and “reposts,” letting you filter recent activity by who reposted or quoted your thread.